The Immortal of Atlantis
by TheRangress
Summary: Instead of Torchwood Three, they were on the Atlantis Expedition. Captain Jack Harkness and Sergeant Ianto Jones were two of Britain's assignments to the SGC. Toshiko Sato was a computer genius from another world. Owen Harper was an exceptional doctor. Suzie Costello had the Ancient gene. And with an immortal and his team in Atlantis, everything changes.
1. When The World Went To Hell

_Prologue_

_When The World Went To Hell_

When she walked into the room, both the woman working on the machine with a businesslike haste and the man trapped in the chair turned their full attention to her.

The woman surveyed the room with queenly poise.

"Lisa?" the man in the chair asked.

"No." Her voice was unnaturally deep, and her eyes flashed red. No. This couldn't be... it couldn't.

"Lady Morrigan," said the woman at the machine, with a grudging kneel.

"Has the machine been repaired?"

"Almost."

"Good."

The Morrigan turned to the man in the chair. "As for you, Ianto Jones..."

"I'll save her." He looked the woman—the Morrigan? Lisa?— in the glowing eyes. "I don't care how powerful you supposedly are, or what I have to do— you. Can't. Win."

"Oh, can't I?" She reached out to touch his jaw. He turned his head, but she grabbed his face and turned it toward her. "We can both get what we want, Ianto Jones," she whispered, returning to Lisa's voice, "I get my empire. You get your lover. Everyone's happy."

* * *

"I managed to escape and rescue Jones and the woman— Toshiko. The Morrigan was blackmailing her, so we helped her escape," Lisa Hallett explained in her debriefing.

Down the hall, the two which she spoke argued quietly in a broom closet.

"We've got to tell them!" Toshiko argued.

"We can't!" Ianto held up a broom about to fall on his head. "If we tell them— "

"They'll handle her! You're the planet that killed the _System Lords_, aren't you?" She took the broom and put it away.

"Yes, but..."

"You don't want to risk Lisa." Tosh sighed. "Look, Sergeant—"

"Ianto."

"Ianto. I understand. Just..." She shifted a broom before they all collapsed. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Just... give me a chance, Toshiko. Please."

She looked at his heartfelt face and sighed. "All right. A chance. But if I think you're acting like a fool..."

"I know." He opened the door. "Thank you."

"By the way..." She stepped out the door. "Call me Tosh."


	2. Secrets

_Chapter One_

_Secrets_

The Wraith cell was dark and just a bit slimy.

"We're dead," Owen Harper said, "So dead."

"Shut up, Owen." Toshiko Sato attempted to find a semi-comfortable place to sit.

"What? It's true!" Owen paced across the cell a few times.

"Yeah, well, it's no help," Captain Jack Harkness countered, leaning against the wall uncomfortably.

"What help? What part of inevitable death do you not understand?" Owen kicked the ground. "Dead! We are _all _going to be _dead_!"

"Owen?"

"Yes?"

Jack punched Owen in the jaw. "Calm down!"

"Oh, I need to calm down now, do I?" Owen rolled up his sleeves.

"Please, don't kill each other before the Wraith have a chance," Ianto Jones said flatly, sitting in the corner.

"Listen to Ianto," agreed Tosh.

"Well, it won't do me any good, will it? Either way I'm dead!"

"Owen, you're panicking," said Suzie Costello, folding her arms.

"Of course I'm panicking!"

"Well, stop it!" Jack grabbed Owen by the collar. "You are a disgrace to the Atlantis Expedition, and you—"

"Wraith," Tosh said unnecessarily. The masked, leather-coated drones marched down the hallway, opened the door, and grabbed Jack.

"Always did love a man in leather. You are a man, right?" Jack commented with a grin. There was no answer as he was roughly shoved down the hallway, flashing a last grin at his team.

* * *

The Wraith queen ran a finger along Jack's cheek, her smile sharp and her hair greasy.

"Come on," she purred, "Someone as... delicious as you? If you'll tell me, I might just..." She lowered her finger to his collarbone. "Keep you around."

"Tempting, but I'll have to decline." Jack smirked and pushed the finger away.

The queen hissed. "You know nothing about the Wraith."

"Well, _nothing's _a bit harsh. I'll admit I don't know that much..."

The queen snarled and tore his shirt open. "I'll keep you around, all right," she snarled.

Jack spotted movement out the corner of his eye. "Hey, buy me dinner first..." That was definitely a P-90. It was Suzie with a P-90. Good team. Jack held back a smile of pride.

"Do you take nothing seriously?" The queen extended her hand.

"Pretty much, yeah." The queen narrowed her eyes and began to feed.

Owen was the first to fire.

"You idiot!" Suzie yelled, shooting a burst of fire into a drone's chest and another for good measure.

"What, I'm supposed to just let her kill him?" He sent another bullet into the Wraith queen. She didn't move from feeding.

"You are _so _strong," she hissed, surprised. Owen's bullet-holes healed.

The drones were down. Suzie joined Owen in firing at the queen.

"He's already dead, Harper," she said flatly.

"Would you two just stop it?" Tosh asked, stepping out to add her fire, "The more recently they've fed, the harder they are to kill!"

Ianto Jones silently walked into the room, pulling out a handgun.

"Ianto? What are you doing?" Tosh asked.

One bullet was fired into the Wraith queen's wrist. A body dropped to the ground as she pulled her hand away to lunge for Ianto.

Two bursts each from three P-90s were sufficient.

Ianto knelt down by Jack's body and held two fingers to his neck.

"He's dead," he announced quietly. Owen kicked the body of the Wraith queen.

"That won't help," Suzie said flatly.

There was a sudden gasp from Jack's supposed corpse. His eyes opened.

"Hi," he said, eying his team, "I... guess I owe some explanations."


	3. Discovery

_Chapter Two_

_Discovery_

Jack Harkness sat in a hospital bed, being explained. Elizabeth Weir crossed her arms, trying to wrap her mind around the explanation.

"How old are you, Captain?" she asked.

"A few decades short of two hundred."

"And looking at these results," said Carson Beckett, looking at a medical scanner, "you've barely aged a day."

"Why thank you," Jack said with a grin.

"So, you..." Dr. Weir left the sentence hanging.

"Don't age, and come back when I die," Jack finished.

"How does that work, exactly?"

"Beats me." Jack stared into the distance. "There's a certain Doctor who knows." "Well, it's not me," said Carson, "I can't explain it— I haven't even got the slightest clue."

"I don't mean to sound callous here, but an immortal... is definitely a game-changer," Dr. Weir said.

"Oh, I know." Jack was surprisingly calm. "I assume you'll want to run tests and send me on suicide missions." "Well... probably, yes."

"It's fine." Jack stood up from the hospital bed. "Glad to serve. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm hungry."

"Where's that explanation you owe us, Harkness?" Owen examined a forkful of sickly yellowish jello.

"Here," said Jack, sliding into the table where Owen, Suzie, Ianto, and Tosh were sitting. A woman with bangs and an accent said something about that being the _immortal_.

"And it is?" Suzie asked.

"I'm immortal." Jack took a large bite of his sandwich. "You know, I'm almost starting to like these."

"How exactly are you immortal?" Tosh toyed with her salad.

"I die, I come back." Jack shrugged.

"How does that work?" Owen asked, intrigued.

"Pretty reliably." Jack took another bite of sandwich.

"Can't you take anything seriously?" Suzie asked flatly.

"I'm too old for that." "How old _are _you?" Tosh asked. "Not sure, exactly. Still a few decades from two hundred."

"Have you always been immortal, or..." Owen pondered with scientific interest.

"Nope. Made immortal." Jack examined a fork.

"How?" "No clue."

"Well, that's helpful." Owen sighed.

"You're doing a good job not freaking out," Jack said helpfully.

"We're on the lost city of Atlantis, in another galaxy, which was built by people who've become pure energy, fighting aliens who suck our lives out through their hands. There's a point when you just go along with anything." Ianto sipped his coffee.

"True." Jack grinned. "By the way, I'm a time traveler from the 51st century."

Ianto spat out his coffee. Owen dropped his fork of jello. Tosh's salad was catapulted across the table. Suzie's jaw dropped slightly.

"A _time traveler_?" asked the woman with bangs and an accent.

"Well, not anything then." Jack stood up and took his tray.

A group of three walked through the Atlantis, discussing Jack Harkness.

"Said he was a time traveler?" Lisa asked, holding Ianto's hand.

"Yes. From the 51st century, in fact." Ianto examined the wall, walking as far from Lisa as he could while she gripped his hand.

"He might have been joking," Tosh volunteered, awkwardly following behind the pair.

"How fascinating." They stopped at the door to Lisa's quarters and went in.

Once in private, the real discussion could begin.

"You have the schematics?" the Morrigan asked, letting go of Ianto's hand like it was a snake and sitting on the bed with the posture of an empress.

"Yes." Tosh pulled a data crystal from her pocket and put it on the table.

"Good." "Can I have my five minutes now?" Ianto asked, studying the wall.

"I don't see why not." The Morrigan closed her eyes, and Lisa Hallett opened them.

"Ianto?" Tosh thoughtfully averted her eyes as the lovers embraced. "Ianto, I can't believe you're doing this..."

"We haven't got long..." He held her, brushed her cheek, gently kissed her.

"You need to stop this, Ianto." She pushed him away. "You have to let me go." "I... no." He reached for her hand. "I'll handle this," he quietly promised, looking right in her eyes, _Lisa's _eyes, not that thing's.

"I'm not worth it," she said, holding his hand tight.

"Yes you are." And he pulled her into his arms again, and she was Lisa, and he couldn't let her go. It was fine, they were back on Earth before any of this started, and it _never would_.

"You're a fool," she said, and he was. He knew he was. But he was a fool for her, and he could do anything.

Until the Morrigan pushed him away like last year's garbage, and he was just a fool again.

"Tell me how to kill Harkness," she said.

"That could be difficult," Tosh said.

"Do it." The Morrigan turned. "Leave me until you have my information."

As they left, the Morrigan wiped Lisa's tears from her face in irritation.


	4. Poison

_Chapter Three_

_Poison_

Jack had been poked, prodded, killed, resurrected, killed again, scanned, interrogated on every illness he'd had, and slapped by a very nice nurse named Noel who had also called him a baby.

And now Dr. Weir was calling him to her office. Whatever she wanted, it couldn't be good. So he strolled in cheerfully, hoping whatever it was, it would be quick.

Major Shepherd was next to her. He didn't look happy. This was serious.

"Doctor, Major." Jack nodded.

"Captain."

"Captain." Dr. Weir put her arms on the table and looked into the distance.

"We've... got a job that requires your special 'talents'," Shepherd explained.

"So, suicide mission?" Jack put on a false grin. Just because he didn't _stay _dead didn't mean he enjoyed it.

"Essentially, yes," Dr. Weir shifted uncomfortable.

"You know how we captured a Wraith? I call him Steve." Shepherd paused. "Anyway... we need him to feed off you."

"Ah. Of course." Jack tried not to sound bitter. "What good's a dead Wraith?"

"Not like that," Dr. Weir hastily added, "The Hoffans have a drug that _may _make people immune to being fed on..."

"Ah. I'm your guinea pig. Well, whenever you're ready..."

"Go talk to Dr. Beckett. This is really his project." Dr. Weir looked relieved.

"Ah, Carson. Should've guessed." Jack sauntered off to spend yet more time in the company of the Scottish doctor.

"That man is nearly two hundred years old," Elizabeth Weir commented, watching him say a casual hello to Dr. Grodin.

"Looks good for his age," John Shepherd said.

"Can you imagine what life must be like for him? Not knowing if he'll ever die..."

"Yep." Shepherd thoughtfully pursed his lips. "Immortality, though..."

"I'm kind of disturbed by how quickly we've accepted this." Dr. Weir turned toward Shepherd.

"Well, I mean, the man _shot himself_... Kind of convincing."

"Yes, I remember." Dr. Weir grimaced slightly. That had been... bloody.

"We can't just ignore what's right in front of our face." He shrugged. "Man's immortal. All we can do is make the most of it."

"By sending him to get fed on by Wraith." She raised her eyebrows and stood. "I don't think I envy him."

* * *

The Hoffan drug had worked.

Upon his release from medical surveillance, Jack wandered the streets of Atlantis, trying to find something fun to do and failing.

Military bases, in Jack's extensive experience, were boring places. There was often danger, of course, and guards were some of the best people to flirt with.

But there wasn't any danger. And he'd spent the last few weeks flirting outrageously with Carson Beckett and quite a few nurses. He'd seen _Monty Python and the Holy Grail _four times.

What he wanted was to go to a bar and drink a lot. Possibly take someone attractive home. But there weren't any bars on Atlantis. That left taking someone attractive back to his quarters.

Well then. Time to find someone attractive.

* * *

"Well, hello. I'm Captain Jack Harkness." He offered his hand and a roguish grin, standing in the middle of the hallway.

"Sergeant Lisa Hallett," she said, eyeing him as if he was offering an angry mongoose. "So. You're the immortal."

"Guilty as charged." He wishdrew the hand she wouldn't take, noticing the gossiping looks he and Sergeant Hallett were getting. "And _you _are beautiful."

"Is it true what they say?" She turned from him and kept walking, forcing him to walk alongside her like a lost puppy. Either she was playing ice queen, or didn't appreciate some friendly flirting. Ah, the 21st century. Either way, it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

"I don't know. What do they say?"

"You're two centuries old. A Wraith fed off you and you survived." She turned toward him. "And then there's that old rumor from the SGC that you kissed General O'Neill."

"I told him I _could_ kiss him," Jack corrected, smiling at the memory. "And I'm still a few decades short of two hundred."

"So you really can't die?" She faced forward again, walking down the hall seemingly for the sake of it.

"As far as I know."

She stopped and turned to face him. "If you knew otherwise, would you tell me?"

"That would be stupid, wouldn't it?" Jack shrugged. "I am telling the truth, though..." He smirked. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

With those words, he did.

* * *

Jack Harkness woke up back in a hospital bed, a nurse— ah, Noel — watching him with narrowed eyes.

"No offense, Jack, but I really didn't want to see you again for a while." Noel sighed.

"Good to see you too, Noel." Jack sat up and sighed. "What was it this time?"

"The Hoffan drug has side effects." Zhe handed him a sandwich. "You always complain about being hungry after you die, so..."

"I could kiss you." Jack devoured the sandwich. Death made even these taste good.

"Go ahead."

With a smile, Jack stood up and went ahead. Noel graciously gave him a few seconds, then pulled away to ignore Jack and do paperwork. "Making me work for it," he commented with a smile.

"Yeah, go on deluding yourself." Noel didn't bother to look at Jack, taking the temperature of a victim of Pegasus bacteria. "Go tell Dr. Beckett you died."

* * *

"They went through with it," Carson Beckett said in disbelief.

"They _what_?" Jack stared.

"Fifty percent mortality rate," Carson continued, mostly to himself, "And they still did it."

"_Fifty percent?" _Jack was slackjaw in shock. This... this was horrible.

"The entire bloody planet!" Carson charged down the hallway, Jack close behind. "Idiots! Bloody idiots!"

"I..." Jack slowed and trailed behind.

_Fifty percent of the planet._ Children. Everyone. Dead.

And they'd tested it on him. Who but the immortal would you let a Wraith feed on? If he just hadn't done this, if not for that, without _him_...

Yet more deaths on his conscience. It hadn't quite sunk in yet. Even now he could hardly breathe with the weight of half a planet on his chest, could see nothing but the dead...

Jack cut this off before it could turn to soul-searching. He turned to go back to Atlantis and annoy Noel.


	5. Lull

_Chapter Four_

_Lull_

"This is hopeless!" Ianto Jones glared down at his pizza.

"No, it's not," Tosh said soothingly, hacking though the medical files. Well, accessing without authorization. Sometimes she wondered how she'd gotten herself into this, helping this random Terran man. It was a strange and worrying situation. The Morrigan had ruled on whims for all of her life, and here she was, helping Ianto keep her from those who'd handle her.

It had started out of pity, really. It had escalated into respect and friendship. After all, she'd worked for the Morrigan to save her mother. And so here she was, risking the greatest opportunity of her lifetime... for the best friend she'd ever had.

"You know as well as I do there's no way to kill him." Ianto glared at the wall in almost childish, impotent anger.

"We don't know that," she tried to assure him.

"Even if there is, there's no chance of us finding it in time!" He stood, knocking the plate of pizza from his lap.

"Ianto." Tosh turned to give him her full attention. "We'll just lie."

He paused. "We could lie."

"Yes."

"Tosh, you're brilliant."

"Yes, I know. Get that pizza off the floor, will you?"

* * *

"Checkmate." "

Damn it." Jack pushed his pile of chocolate bars over to Suzie grudgingly as she plucked his king from the board.

"You're very bad at chess," she informed him.

"I've noticed." Jack set to resetting the board as Suzie casually unwrapped a chocolate bar.

"Two hundred and you've never learned to play chess?" Owen casually observed, playing with a Rubik's Cube on the rec room couch.

"I'm not two hundred!" Jack pouted. "God, won't you let up about my age?"

"Quite simply? No." Owen examined his Rubik's Cube. "Well, that was a waste." He sighed and attempted to think of a new strategy.

"And I have _learned_. Several times." Jack smiled wistfully. "I'm just no good."

"That much is obvious," Suzie said, finishing her chocolate bar and standing up to throw out the wrapper.

"Why do you even play, then?" Owen nodded and set on a new course of action.

"Why not?" With an almost stealthy lack thereof, Jack stole a candy bar from Suzie's pile. Owen raised an eyebrow. Jack raised a finger to his lips. Suzie dismissed him as a madman and sat back down.

"Rematch?" she suggested.

"Sure," Jack said, "What do we wager this time?"

"I don't understand your childish insistence on betting over chess. I don't enjoy taking candy from a baby."

"I win more often when I'm betting."

"Ah. Instead of never winning, you _almost _never win."

"Exactly." Jack gave that grin, impossible to reconcile with a man who'd lived several lifetimes. Then, Jack himself was no bastion of wisdom and maturity. Suzie wondered how he managed to remain cheerful.

"You know what? I'll play," Owen said, tossing the Rubik's Cube carelessly aside.

"Quitter." Jack vacated his seat and set to solving Owen's Rubik's Cube for him, trying his best not to remember all the now-corpses who'd once played chess with him, and that someday Suzie would be among them.


	6. The Morrigan

_Chapter Five_

_The Morrigan_

It was shocking how much of a home Atlantis had become.

The Atlantean refugees set up in the prairies of Browuan to wait out the storm, unsure of their return. It was a tense occasion, full of nervous refugees and suspicious villagers.

"What's that _smell_?" Owen asked. Jack was flirting with a random villager, Suzie was looking for food, and Ianto was presumably somewhere. This left Owen and Tosh in an empty spot of prairie.

"Grass," Tosh said flatly, sitting in it with her laptop.

"Well, I don't like it." Owen crossed his arms and sat suspiciously. "And that sound?"

"Those would be insects, Owen. They live outside." Tosh rolled her eyes.

"Well, I don't." At this moment, Owen spotted something. It was red and scaly. He frantically stood and backed away, pointing emphatically. "What— what is _that_?" Tosh looked casually.

"Some sort of animal."

"What if it bites? It could be toxic, or..." Owen kept a nervous eye on the red scaly beast.

"It's probably more scared of you than you are of it..."

"Oh, I sincerely doubt that!" Owen backed away. "I'm going back to the village."

"All right then." Tosh watched with mild amusement as Owen ran away.

A few minutes later, Ianto and the Morrigan walked into sight.

"Nobody can hear us?" she asked Tosh.

"Not even a mouse."

The Morrigan turned back to Ianto. "How do I kill Harkness?"

"Fire," Ianto lied, "If you burn him, he won't come back." The Morrigan smiled. "Ah, Ianto, Ianto... Lisa always could tell when you were lying, remember?"

There was a moment before he understood, and then he couldn't think. Tosh stared in shock as the Morrigan brushed her fingers against Ianto's jaw. "She tried her best to hide it from me, you know."

"There just... there isn't any way to find out..."

Tosh held her breath as the Morrigan caressed Ianto's face. Please.

"And you were doing so well, too..."

"Ianto!"

He found a handgun pressed to his chest and Tosh standing, searching for an opening. Ianto attempted to gather focus, to find some sense and clear plan of action.

"Fine then," he found himself saying, "Go ahead."

"What the _hell _is going on here?" Jack Harkness raised a handgun, walking back from the village.

The Morrigan turned. Her eyes glowed.

"Damn it," Jack said, stopping in his tracks. He pointed the gun evenly at the Morrigan.

There was a gunshot. The Morrigan stepped away, cocking her head and pointing her handgun at Jack in a sweeping gesture. Ianto Jones fell to the ground, blood blossoming from his ribcage. Tosh swiftly knelt down beside him. There had to be a chance— right?

"Oh, that was a bad choice." Jack took another step toward the Morrigan.

"He's still alive, Captain!" Tosh called, fingers on Ianto's pulse, "But we need to get him back to the village _now_."

Jack swore. The Morrigan shot a bullet into his shoulder. He emptied the clip into her.

"You know nothing of the Goa'uld," she snarled, voice unnaturally deep.

"No, it's the _Wraith _I know nothing about," Jack corrected. He threw his empty handgun aside and knelt beside Ianto.

"I will kill you, Jack Harkness." With that promise, she ran through the prairie. Jack ignored her, taking Ianto in his arms and lifting him.

"Shouldn't we go after her?" Tosh asked.

"After we get him some medical attention and _you _tell me what the hell's going on here."

Jack started to carry Ianto back to the village.

* * *

"And, well, I guess we really screwed up," Tosh concluded.

"Yeah, you could say that," Jack agreed. They sat behind the wood cabin that served as an impromptu surgery for Ianto.

"We should go after her." Tosh looked off into the windblown prairie.

"Yes, we should."

"Hey, guys?" Owen poked around the corner and stood next to Jack and Tosh. "Ianto's gonna be all right, so you know."

"Oh, good." Tosh was visibly relieved.

"Wraith stunner," Jack said.

"What?" Owen stared at Jack as if he'd just spoken complete nonsense.

"That could work," Tosh agreed, ignoring Owen.

"Could work for what?"

"We'll just have to get our hands on one without anyone finding out..."

"Wait... you're not going to tell anyone?"

"Well, of course. Come on, Tosh."

Jack and Tosh marched off, leaving Owen to be baffled.

* * *

In the barn where the Atlanteans were currently storing their weapons, Suzie was kissing a villager.

Jack and Tosh walked into the barn. Tosh hastily averted her eyes and went to find a stunner. Jack grinned.

"Hi."

The blonde villager pulled away in shock. Suzie put an arm around her.

"Go away, Jack."

"Tosh and I were just picking a few things up..." Tosh held up a Wraith stunner to punctuate this statement.

"And you need a Wraith stunner for..." Suzie kissed her blonde villager's forehead. "Don't worry, dear. They're friends."

"Stunning people," Jack said.

"And why do these people need stunned?" Suzie's villager broke in.

"Shot one of my team."

"Who?" Suzie asked.

"Ianto. Owen says he'll be fine."

"Who shot him?"

"Not sure. She's out in the prairie."

"I'm coming with you."

"Suzie!" The blonde villager put her hands on her hips.

"I'll come back, dear."

"You'd _better._" The blonde villager crossed her arms. "You aren't abandoning me again, Suzie Costello."

"I promise, Marshan Valanna." Suzie kissed Marshan and grabbed a Wraith stunner. "Let's go."

* * *

The Morrigan didn't stand a chance.

Yes, Goa'uld were dangerous. But one lone Goa'uld with a handgun against three people with Wraith stunners? What could she do?

Jack knew exactly what she could do. Kill Suzie and Tosh. Suzie observed the grass in search of a human figure and Tosh scanned for naquadah. And if the Morrigan were lucky, if she were smart and lucky, she could take them both out. Jack was painfully aware of the fragility of human life. It was distracting; it was frightening. "That way," Tosh said quietly, pointing.

Suzie shot in that general direction. After a brief silence, a bullet clipped Tosh's shoulder.

"Invisibility?" Suzie asked skeptically.

"I'm fine," Tosh volunteered.

"Grass," Jack said, eyeing the long tan grass.

"Footprints," Tosh agreed, bending down to inspect for them.

"Sentences," said Suzie. Jack looked at her. "Use them."

The stunner was knocked from Jack's hands. He grabbed what he hoped was an arm, what was probably a knee going into his hip. Tosh and Suzie pointed their stunners. He quickly swept his leg to hopefully knock the Morrigan off-balance. He hit something solid and fell on something female. Jack paused to think of an innuendo and got punched in the face for his trouble. He was shoved off the Morrigan, and that was when Suzie shot.

Jack checked. Suzie had made the shot.

"Good shot," he commented, checking to see if the invisibility device was a bracelet. Most of these things seemed to be.

"Now what do we do with her?" Tosh asked. Jack discovered it was a bracelet and removed it. The Morrigan became visible, slumped unconscious on the prairie.

"With Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard on Atlantis, you are in command," Suzie pointed out.

Jack lifted the Morrigan, a little tired of all the carrying people he was doing today. "Can't get her to the Tok'ra, There's a chance we can get the symbiote out..." He gave Tosh a significant look and started walking back to the village.

* * *

"To put it simply, we can't."

Jack and Tosh sat between the beds of Ianto and the Morrigan, Owen standing to monitor the life signs, other medical personnel milling around. Suzie was presumably snogging Marshan again.

"What _can _we do?" Jack asked.

"Essentially, nothing." Owen sighed. "I mean, _maybe _there's an Ancient device back at Atlantis..."

"...Which could be destroyed..." Jack continued.

"And could take years to find," Tosh concluded.

"So, basically, we can keep her imprisoned, or we can kill her and the host," Owen summarized.

Alive, she was a danger to the entire galaxy. Alive, she was an invaluable asset. She died, and an innocent woman died with her. And for now, the choice lay in the hands of Jack Harkness— to kill her now or to risk keeping her alive. He couldn't shake the feeling whichever choice he made, it was sure to be wrong.

"You're all fools," came a distinctively Goa'uld voice.

Jack grinned at her, the pinnacle of arrogance. "Oh, really? We're not the ones who got captured, in case you haven't noticed."

"A minor setback." She sat up and gave everyone a look you wouldn't give to that which _was_ insignificant, but to those you wished to _feel _insignificant.

"Oh, really?" Jack leaned back with an arrogant grin. "Owen here was just telling me how we've got an Ancient device to get rid of you back in Atlantis."

"That's right," Tosh said swiftly.

"So, right now, as I see it, you've got two options." Jack paused for effect. "On the one hand, you can wait and get executed. On the other, you can leave Lisa Hallett right now and maybe we'll let you live. Get you a Wraith host or something."

"You are a fool to show me mercy." She flashed her eyes for effect. "

I don't _have _mercy." Jack shrugged in a display of total nonchalance. If this worked...

The Morrigan smiled. "I'll take the third option, Captain Harkness."

"We need medical attention here!" Owen barked when the monitors started beeping. Lisa Hallett fell back into the bed, gasping for air.

"Ianto—" she choked out, "Is he—?"

"He'll be fine," Jack assured her, taking her hand.

"Good... Tell him— sorry..."

"I will," Jack promised. He held Lisa Hallett's hand as she died.

* * *

The next morning, Tosh sat awkwardly by Ianto's bedside. She'd explained what had happened as best as she could, and now she was almost terrified of what this would do to him.

"He killed her," Ianto said softly.

"Ianto, the Morrigan killed her, not Jack."

"He killed her." Ianto looked at the empty bed beside him, the one where Lisa had died. "I'll kill him. I don't care that he's immortal. I'll— no. No." He turned to Tosh, tears in his eyes. "I'll _break _him."


	7. And Miles To Go

_Chapter Six_

_And Miles To Go_

"Hello, Athens!" the Doctor declared, bursting out of the TARDIS with a laurel on his head and red shoes, "This... isn't Athens."

He examined the hallway in which he found himself, Martha Jones exiting behind him in an appropriate—for Classical Athens— chiton.

"Where have you got us now, Doctor?" she asked.

"Hmm... Ancient, by the looks of it." He made a face. "I never liked the Ancients much..."

"You're in Atlantis," said a woman, stepping into sight with wide eyes.

"And you are?" the Doctor asked politely.

"Wait, Atlantis? That's real?" Martha asked him.

"Yes. Highly advanced city that sunk into the ocean... in the Pegasus galaxy." He turned to the woman again.

"Sergeant Gwen Cooper. You?"

"I'm the Doctor, and this is Martha Jones." He grinned at Gwen.

"I think Dr. Weir needs to know about you." Gwen paused to examine the TARDIS. "And... what's that, then?"

"The TARDIS," Martha stepped in to explain, "It's a very complicated time machine."

"Ah." Gwen nodded, still wide-eyed. "I think we should go talk to Dr. Weir now."

"All right then." The Doctor nodded. "Lead the way, Sergeant Gwen Cooper. Allons-y!"

* * *

"I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. I'm nine hundred and six—"

"He thinks," Martha interrupted, as Dr. Weir looked on in confusion.

"I think I know how old I am," the Doctor said cantankerously.

"You _think_," Martha repeated with a smile. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"In any case, I'm very old, and I travel around time and space in the TARDIS, and you, here— you're _brilliant_! Heading off to a new galaxy to explore the unknown! Making mistakes... a lot of mistakes, actually... But perservering! Ah, the indomitable human spirit..." The Doctor grinned absently.

"He does this a lot," Martha said confidentally.

"Ah," said Dr. Weir. This was certainly surprising. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected the Atlantis expedition to be, but immortal men and Time Lords from the planet Gallifrey were not in the package.

At this moment, the door was opened and a man stood in it like a knight facing down a dragon who'd slaughtered his companions. "Doctor!" he barked. Suddenly, it occurred to him that this man looked different. "You've... changed."

"Regenerated," the Doctor said with an awkward grin, "Hi, Jack."

"Is that all you have to say for yourself? 'Hi, Jack'?"

"Well—"

"You abandoned me! I've been waiting nearly _a hundred and fifty years_, damn it!" Jack turned to Dr. Weir. "Sorry for the intrusion, sir."

"Hello," Martha said, trying to defuse the tension. She waved to Jack.

"Hello," Jack replied with a grin.

"Stop it," the Doctor snapped.

"Can't I even say hello?"

"No."

"I'm Martha Jones," she broke in.

"Captain Jack Harkness, and you are doing a _great _job of distracting me." Jack turned back to the Doctor. "Damn it, why didn't you say anything? You could have at least said _goodbye..._"

"Well, _Captain Jack Harkness_, why don't you explain to me what's going on here?" Martha insisted.

"I'd like to know that very much," Dr. Weir concurred.

"A long time ago, I travelled with the Doctor... and Rose." Jack eyed the Doctor. "You leave her too?"

"Oh, be quiet, Jack," the Doctor growled.

"Anyway, I died, next thing I know I'm alive and the Doctor's gone."

"Rose looked into the heart of the TARDIS," the Doctor said flatly, "Turned you into a fixed point. You shouldn't exist, Jack. You're _wrong_."

"How sweet," Jack said flatly.

"I can't help it, Jack."

"Dr. Weir?" came the voice of Rodney McKay through the intercom.

"Yes, McKay?" she answered. Harkness and this Doctor were bickering like an old married couple, and she tried to drown them out.

"I think you're gonna want to see this."

"Fine," she said.

* * *

"Don't touch that!" Rodney reprimanded the Doctor.

"And why shouldn't I?" The Doctor's hand hovered over

"Because it's very sensitive Ancient equipment, and—"

"Sensors."

"How did you know—"

"Well, it's displaying life signs characteristic of someone in stasis..." The Doctor pointed to the middle of the room, where Dr. Weir, Martha, John Sheppard, and Teyla Emmagan were congregation. "And _she _is definitely in stasis."

"Yes, yes, very observant," Rodney said dismissively. The Doctor pulled out some sort of device and scanned—well, Rodney assumed he was scanning, as that was logical and consistent— the woman. "What are you doing? I— what?"

"I'm scanning her," the Doctor said.

"Yes, I gathered that. What for?"

"Hmm," the Doctor said, ignoring Rodney, "Interesting." He absently scanned Dr. Weir.

"Why are you scanning me?"

"Oh dear." The Doctor, off in his own little world, ran his fingers through his hair.

"What is it?" Jack Harkness asked, finally deigning to stop sulking in the hallway.

"Well..." the Doctor said, annoying Rodney with his delaying, "You see, if my screwdriver's right—"

"Your _screwdriver_?" Rodney interrupted.

"Yes. My sonic screwdriver." The Doctor eyed Rodney.

"Isn't that, you know, a scanner? Since you were scanning things with it?" Rodney folded his arms.

"No. Don't diss the sonic." The Doctor turned to face Dr. Weir. "In any case... that woman in there? _She _is _you_."

"She's... what?" Dr. Weir asked.

"This can't be good for the timeline," Martha observed.

"She's you, and no, it's not." The Doctor paced.

"So... what? Your magic screwdriver just told you?" Rodney McKay folded his arms skeptically.

"They've got the same DNA, and _don't diss the sonic!"_ The Doctor glared.

"Let me see if I understand," Teyla broke in, "Dr. Weir and this woman are the same, as your... screwdriver told you. You are a time traveler?"

"And space," the Doctor said with a nod.

"So, at some point, Dr. Weir will travel back in time and be placed in stasis?"

"Exactly." The Doctor nodded appreciatively. "The problem is Dr. Weir's timeline now _overlaps_, weakening the fabric of space/time."

"Which... is bad," Teyla said.

"Exactly." The Doctor grinned.

Martha crossed her arms. "Well, what are we going to do about it?"

"We don't know how she got in there or why," Rodney pointed out.

"Exactly!" The Doctor pulled a pair of glasses out and shoved them on. "It could be a time loop, it could... not be. Information! Never hypothesize without information. One inevitably starts twisting the data to fit the conclusion!"

"We could defrost her and _ask_ her," Sheppard pointed out.

"I'm with the Major," said Jack.

"Look at her. You really think she'd _survive _being 'defrosted'?" Rodney asked.

"Oh, of course. Charge in all... military." The Doctor grimaced. "We should find out _when _she was put in stasis."

"There should be a record in the database, and... Cell decay rates. If we know how long she's been in there..." Rodney McKay slowly grinned.

"We can tell when she went in!" the Doctor finished, "Rodney McKay, you're brilliant!"

"Yes; I suppose I am." Rodney smiled in a self-indulgent way. "Well? Shall we get to work?"

* * *

As the Doctor and Rodney McKay behaved like childish, territorial scientists, Jack and Martha sat outside the laboratory.

"So," Martha said.

"So," Jack agreed.

"Hello there." Owen Harper appeared from around a corner. "And you are?"

"Martha Jones." She stood and offered her hand.

"I don't believe we've met." Owen ignored Martha's hand.

"That's because I only just arrived."

"You what?" Owen stared in confusion.

"There's a man called the Doctor who travels in time and space," Jack broke in, "She came with him."

"Very interesting." Owen made a face.

Martha stifled a grin. "He's in there, by the way." She pointed to the lab, glad to have an opportunity to not hold her hand out like an idiot.

"Being a big dork," Jack added.

"Oh, he's always that." Martha made a dismissive gesture.

"True." Jack grinned.

"You know, I really hate being the only one in the room who doesn't know something," Owen said.

At that moment, the Doctor and Rodney McKay emerged from the lab.

"Owen, _that _is the Doctor," Jack said, "Doctor, this is Dr. Owen Harper."

"Oh god," Owen said flatly.

"Doctor!" the Doctor said cheerfully. He nodded to Rodney. "Doctor."

"Not this," Rodney said.

"You're ruining it!"

"We have much more important things to do than this routine." Rodney rolled his eyes.

"I agree," Owen said.

"I want to see it," Martha said.

"So do I," Jack agreed with a grin.

"Please?" said the Doctor.

"You said you're hundreds of years old. You have to have done this before." Rodney sighed. "And we have to get these _results _to Dr. Weir..."

"You heard him, Doctor," Martha said with a grin, "You and the doctor can't talk to the doctor because you have to go see the doctor."

The Doctor grinned. "Martha Jones, you are brilliant!"

"Yes, yes, brilliant. Shall we go now?" Rodney bristled with impatience.

"Right. Going. Serious business here."

As the Doctor and Rodney left, Owen turned to Jack. "What the _hell _just happened?"

* * *

"You see, Dr. Weir... Well, you see, I did a very detailed analysis, and..." The Doctor fiddled with everything fiddlable.

"If he's right, she went in there when she was younger than you are now," Rodney explained.

"How does that even work?" Dr. Weir asked, putting her chin on her hand.

"Not well," the Doctor said briefly, "I'm going to take Martha back to when she was put in stasis in an attempt to make some sense of this all.

"I, uh... I'd be interested in seeing your time machine," Rodney said.

"Oh, fine then. Martha, Rodney and I will go back in time."

"Sounds good," Dr. Weir said, unable to shake the feeling that she really wasn't in charge anymore.

"Allons-y!" the Doctor declared, standing dramatically.

"That's French, right?" Rodney asked, following.

Dr. Weir buried her head in her hands.

* * *

The Doctor found a familiar face waiting by the TARDIS.

"Hello, Gwen Cooper!"

"Hello there," she said with a smile.

"Hello," Martha Jones added.

"Hello. Goodbye," Rodney McKay said, marching into the TARDIS. A moment later, he poked his head out. "It's, uh... spatial anomaly... Dimensional portal?"

"Bigger on the inside?" Martha suggested.

"Well... yes."

Gwen Cooper poked her head in the TARDIS.

"That's big," she commented.

"Oh, bigger." The Doctor grinned wildly. "There's a swimming pool."

"In the library," Martha added.

"She's got an odd sense of humor, my TARDIS," the Doctor commented. Rodney coughed impatiently. "Oh, right! Allons-y!"

The Doctor grabbed Martha and Gwen by the arm and pulled them into the TARDIS.

* * *

"What did you bring _her_ along for?" Rodney McKay asked as the group exited the TARDIS.

"I'm the Doctor. It's what I do." The Doctor adjusted his himation, or at the very least his Gallifreyan cloak serving as such, and charged off in a random direction. "The Ancients will show up any time now..."

"Time Lord!" A woman in a robe stepped seemingly out of nowhere, straight black hair flowing despite the lack of breeze.

The Doctor gave the face of a martyr and then turned to the Ancient woman with a smile. "The Doctor."

"Martha Jones," Martha added, comparing the robe and her chiton.

"Gwen Cooper," Gwen said, slowly waving with awe.

"And I'm Dr. Rodney McKay. We're looking for Elizabeth Weir?"

"Yes, she's here. I am Aeliana." Aeliana nodded to the group. "Are you here to return her to her time, Doctor?"

"Her time?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "I'm not entirely-"

"We're here to see her," Martha broke in, "It's all awfully complicated, I don't feel like trying to explain it, and if he does we'll be here all week."

"Hey!" the Doctor protested.

"It's true, though."

"You're really an Ancient?" Gwen asked.

"They don't call themselves the Ancients," Rodney pointed out, a bit miffed at having to do so.

"Right." Martha gave a dejected Gwen a reassuring smile.

"I will take you to Elizabeth Weir," said a confused Aeliana, turning and walking away.

* * *

"Paradox," the Doctor said once Elizabeth Weir finished her story.

"Paradox?" Rodney questioned.

"No, there are three of you," Martha said.

The Doctor took a moment to get it, and then grinned. Rodney McKay rolled his eyes and groaned to communicate just how asinine he found that. Elizabeth Weir blinked, then had realization come over her face. Gwen Cooper sniggered.

"In any case, there are currently two of you running around the universe, and... Well, I'm a Time Lord so I can understand, but you're not so you can't."

"Oh, really?" Rodney asked.

"Trust me, I don't think any of us can understand what goes on in _his _head," Martha said, folding her arms.

"Exactly!" said the Doctor obliviously.

"So... what do we do, then?" Dr. Weir asked, feeling rather powerless.

"Hmm... Got to keep casuality and maintain Atlantis, but the two of you in Atlantis at the same time weakens space/time so that's bad, so all-in-all..." The Doctor made a thoughtful face. "You could come with me. We handle making Atlantis run, you have a spell in stasis to retain causality, and then... anything, really."

"That does seem reasonable," Rodney agreed.

Dr. Weir considered this. It did seem better than spending ten thousand years in stasis. "I can't go home?" "

That could be... problematic." The Doctor looked sympathetic.

Dr. Weir sighed and looked at her hands. She just didn't have any options. Elizabeth Weir wasn't the sort of person who enjoyed having decisions made for her. "I'll go. But let me make one thing clear, Doctor—I'm only coming with you because there _are_ no other options. I don't trust you."

"You shouldn't," the Doctor said, looking older than anyone had a right to be. "Shall we go then?"

"Wait." Rodney gave Gwen, who was standing up, a withering look. "See, if we're back in the time of the Ancients—"

"No," the Doctor said.

"But!"

"No." The Doctor glared. "Time is not to be meddled with."

"Oh, not even to save lives?"

"Not even then."

There was a quiet moment as Rodney glared and the Doctor just looked gravely and earnestly. "Oh, fine," Rodney said at last, looking away.

"Good," said the Doctor. He smiled. "Now, let's go fix everything, shall we?"

* * *

"Checkmate!" Jack said triumphantly.

"No, just check," Suzie corrected him, demonstrating.

"Oh." Jack sunk back into his chair. "Now I feel foolish."

"You _are_ foolish," Owen commented from the couch, working on his Rubik's Cube again. Tosh was scooted to the other side with her laptop, playing Tetris.

"Yes, he is," the Doctor agreed, walking in, watching a few second's of Ianto's James Bond movie over his shoulder, and pulling up a chair next to Jack.

"I have nothing to say to you," Jack said, making a move.

"Oh, really." The Doctor folded his arms as Jack made a foolhardy move, and Suzie vacated the table. The Doctor scooted over to make Suzie's move for her. "You're very bad at chess."

"I know," Jack said, making another hasty move.

"I'm sorry." Jack looked up in shock. The Doctor quietly moved. "I really am," he added.

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Yes. Fine." Jack moved.

"Good. You're about to lose this game, you know."

"He always loses," Suzie pointed out.

"Just mostly," Jack corrected.

"I'm the Doctor."

"Suzie Costello."

"I've met Dr. Harper..." The Doctor surveyed the room.

"Toshiko Sato." Tosh waved.

"Lovely to meet you, Toshiko Sato!" the Doctor said with a grin.

"Jones. Ianto Jones." Ianto turned to face the Doctor. "Technically, I should arrest you."

"Ex-Torchwood, are you?" the Doctor asked, eyebrows raising.

"Technically I'm still Torchwood."

"Don't arrest the Doctor, Ianto." Jack gestured to the Doctor that it was his move.

"Is that an order, sir?" Ianto raised an eyebrow.

"Technically." Jack grinned. The Doctor moved.

"Checkmate." Jack cursed as the Doctor stole his chocolate bar.

"Well, nice to meet you, Jones Ianto Jones," the Doctor said, mouth full of chocolate. "So, Jack... coming with me?"

Jack surveyed the room for a moment, then looked at the Doctor. "No. I've got a job here. A team."

"Good for you." The Doctor finished the chocolate bar. "I'd best go."

"Oh, I'm not letting you go that easily." Jack paused. "What happened to Rose?"

"It's a long story. She's alive..."


End file.
